Home Gardeners

Spider plant or chlorophytum comosum is also called as airplane plants that form clumps of grass like leaves on their dangling stems. It is a flowering perennial plant that has major application in purifying air by eliminating harmful toxins. They are easy to grow and adoptable to different climatic conditions. Here are some new ideas of growing beautiful spider plants in your home that acts as a natural air-cleaner.

How to grow spider plant indoors?

To grow spider plant indoors, consider the following factors that helps to thrive quickly and produce beautiful fragrant flowers…..

• Choose pot and soil.
• Place the baby plant in pots.
• Provide sufficient water and sunlight to the plants.
• When the plant matures and produce flowers they attract insects for pollination.
• Use organic fertilizers such as compost or manure for better plant growth.

Pot & Soil: If you wish to plant it to outdoors choose area with well-drain such as sandy soil. For indoors select a potting medium such as vermiculite or compost soil in pots of size 8 inches. Prefer slightly alkaline soil with pH 6.0-7.2. When prefer landscape method spacing between each plant should be 20-30 centimeters long.

Water & Sunlight: Water your spider plant with pure or distilled water that provides sufficient nutrients to the plants. When plants mature increase the amount of water supply and provide full sunlight to thrive quickly. Some of these spider plant varieties grow well in both warm and cool climatic conditions. So the ideal temperature to grow is 55-65 F.

When the plant matures it reaches to a height of 2-3 feet in hanging baskets or pots and flowers have white petals that bloom in summer season.

Pruning & Repotting:  To prune spider plants use scissors or shears and remove all discolored, diseased or dead leaves from the plants to encourage faster growth. Repotting the spider plant only when it is overgrows or starts breaking the pot with its roots.

Pollination: spider plants need to be pollinated in order to produce seeds. For this you can plant them outside to attract insects to pollinate naturally or you can do it yourself by gently brushing cotton swag against one flower to another.

Nutrient Deficiency

S. No	Element	Deficiency symptom
1	Nitrogen	Slow growth, pale leaves
2	Phosphorus	Reduces leaf production, leaves turn blue color
3	Potassium	Purplish brown patches at the base

Pests & Diseases

Pests	Diseases
Aphids	Fungal leaf rot
Mealy bugs	Root rot
White flies	Leaf yellowing
Spider mites	Black spot
Thrips	Powdery mildew

Fertilizers: Fertilize spider plant for every 2-3 months in a year. During the growing season use a liquid fertilizer at the base to feed your plants. You can also use general purpose fertilizers in the ratio of (10-10-10) or eggshells, compost, manure or baking soda to deter pests & diseases and for better plant growth.

How to Propagate Spider Plant from Cuttings?

Propagating spiderettes (spider plant babies) without spending too much of money may increase your houseplant collection. It’s very easy for gardeners to learn rooting techniques of spider plants. Here is the step by step procedure that explains the propagation method from cuttings…..

• Take spider plant cuttings of 6-12 inches height.
• Place the cuttings in a glass or jar of water.
• Now change water for every 2-3 days.
• Within 2 weeks root establishes and you can transplant it to outdoors.

Or you can also plant spiderettes in the soil is the easy and quick way to propagate directly instead of placing in it water. In this method you can water in very little amounts at regular intervals.

Companion plants: Companion planting helps to attract pollinators to increase the productivity of crop plants. Spider plants love to grow with dahlia, impatiens and setcreasea. All these plants help to boost the plant growth and thereby improving the quality of air.

Spider Plant Varieties: The table below illustrates the list of spider plant varieties and its specification based on leaf structure….

S. No	Plant variety	Specification
1	Bonnie spider plant	Curl and twisted leaves
2	Hawaiian spider plant	Variegation on new leaves,
3	Variegated bonnie plant	Curly leaves stripe with creamy white
4	Zebra grass spider plant	Green leaves edged in white

Spider Plant Care

• Avoid using fertilizers during winter season or growing out of their pots.
• Use clay or ceramic pot that has holes at the bottom for proper drainage.
• If the plants get dusty wipe the leaves of using a wet cloth to remove stains.
• Keep children and pets (dogs & cats) away from harmful tools and fertilizers.
• Make sure the spider plant receives sunlight for a minimum of 6-8 hrs a day.
• Adding mulch to improve the soil fertility and to maintain soil moisture levels.
• Do not over water the spider plant as it can cause great damage resulting in root rot.
• Fertilize the plants with organic matter once in every 3 months for better plant growth.
• Make sure the pot has holes at the bottom for enough drainage and to make the soil moist.
• Follow instructions and warning labels on covers when you purchase online before planting them.

What is the structure of spider plant?

Spider plant  or chlorophytum comosum has fleshy tuberous roots with narrow leaves.  They produce beautiful white, lavender and pink color flowers in clusters along the stem inflorescence depending on plant varieties. Flowers have 6 petals and stamen & stigma for pollination purpose.  plant usually to a height of 2 feet tall under right growing conditions.

Where does the spider plant grow?

Spider plant  is a perennial plant that is mostly popular as air-purifying plant. These are native to south africa and needs a warm tropical climate to survive outside. Plants cannot tolerate frost conditions when placed outside.

Do spider plants improve the air quality?

Many houseplants varieties in your home are known for their cleaning action of harmful toxins in air. Keeping spider plant in your home helps to remove the toxins like formaldehyde, benzene, carbon monoxide and xylene.  It completely eliminates the carbon monoxide in air and creates more oxygen in your home.

A study also shows that patient with these plants in their rooms require less medication than compared to the patients in room without plants.

Start growing spider plants in pots or containers at home that completely monitors your health by purifying the air. If you have amazing ideas about growing spider plants, please share your experience with us.

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